Troy Carter

U.S. Congressman Troy Carter talks about voting rights and redistricting during a town hall meeting at the Georges Auditorium on the Dillard University campus in New Orleans, Monday, May 11, 2026.

U.S. Rep. Troy Carter has introduced a bill that would distribute $100 million through FEMA each year for colleges and universities across the country to better prepare for hurricanes and other disasters.

A release from Carter, D-New Orleans, and cosponsor Jared Moskowitz, D-Florida, said the need for greater emergency resilience in higher education was clear after Hurricanes Katrina, Ida and Irma "devastated universities in Louisiana and Florida."

“Every year during hurricane season, Louisianans hold our collective breath — particularly after the destruction Hurricanes Katrina and Ida brought on our state,” Carter said in a statement. “I developed this legislation with Rep. Moskowitz, another member of Congress from a disaster-prone district, because higher education institutions need government investment to improve their general capacity to respond to emergencies of all kinds.”

Carter and Moskowitz are co-chairs of the Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Caucus.

The legislation would create a grant program for colleges and universities to enhance their disaster preparation and response. Institutions could use the money to pay personnel related to emergency management, update their institutional emergency plans, or construct emergency operations or refuge centers, according to the bill text.

The grants would run from $250,000 to $5 million under the proposal. The bill would appropriate $100 million for each fiscal year from 2027 to 2031 for FEMA to carry out the program. After three years, FEMA would be required to submit a report to Congress on how the grants were used and if they were effective.

Colleges need "additional support" as they face sometimes overlapping crises, from campus shootings to extreme weather, the release said.

"No student should be left wondering where to go or whether their campus can keep them safe when a disaster hits," Moskowitz said in the release. "Families send their children to college trusting that their safety is a priority."

Because the bill proposes a national grant program, the Bayou State would not be guaranteed funding, but a spokesperson for Carter said Louisiana universities are the types of applicants the program has in mind.

Carter said the program is also needed in the wake of threats of violence against historically Black colleges and universities. Last September, a number of HBCUs, including Southern University in Baton Rouge, went on lockdown after a wave of what the FBI called “hoax threat calls."

“The national grant program this legislation creates will address gaps identified by higher education institutions,” Carter said. “For Louisiana, our disaster preparedness includes tropical storms, extreme heat, flooding, active shooter situations or bomb threats, but needs identified will be different for institutions across the country.”

Email Haley Miller at [email protected].